For solar power to become a significant contributor to
energy supply, and hence greenhouse gas emissions
reductions, the industry has to achieve high annual growth
rates for decades. The challenge cannot be overstated,
especially once subsidies can no longer be relied upon to
drive industry growth. Several barriers, including high costs,
lack of reliable demand, supply chain dynamics, and utility
integration issues, threaten to prevent adoption rates from
rising as fast as is required. In particular, high costs are a
major barrier, since solar power must soon be cost
competitive unsubsidized. Fortunately, large cost reduction
potential is available, which has not been captured during
the hectic expansion of the industry.
New Rocky Mountain Institute paper on accelerating solar power adoption
